Team Out of Town Blog Hub (outoftownblog.com) – A year after FamilyMart opened its first branch in Cebu, the well-loved Japanese convenience store brand is now ready to welcome new ‘Family members’—the Davaoeños—as it opens its stores farther south.
Bringing its top-selling Japanese snacks and drinks, including onigiri, ramen, donburi, takoyaki, FamiChicky, and Coffee Creations, FamilyMart opened two new stores in Davao—a compact store in Tagum, and a stand-alone store in Matina.
Japanese convenience store brand FamilyMart opens first-ever stores in Davao located in Tagum and Matina.
“FamilyMart is now finally in Davao. This is the first time our brand entered the Mindanao market ever since it came to the Philippines, so we are very proud to have reached this important milestone,” FamilyMart General Manager and Phoenix Vice President for Integrated Marketing and Strategies Celina Matias said. “We take pride in our premium-quality Japanese food and exemplary customer experience at our stores in Luzon, and we are bringing them all with us to Davaoeños who have long been waiting to enjoy great Japanese food served with a Filipino touch.”
While the Matina store is the traditional FamilyMart outlet with a walk-in space, the one in Tagum is a more compact variation similar to the ones in Cebu, featuring an al fresco take-out counter ideal for grab-and-go transactions. Both newly opened outlets offer convenience store products for the daily needs of customers, as well as ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat food items.
“We’re glad to be able to offer the FamilyMart experience to more communities in the Philippines. We’ve finally entered Mindanao, and we cannot wait to bring the brand to even more Filipinos across the country,” Phoenix President Henry Albert Fadullon said.
To celebrate FamilyMart’s arrival in Davao, the stores gave away free Swarovski charms for every minimum spend of Php 250. A complimentary sampling of Coffee Creations’ 12 oz brewed coffee was also available for customers.
In 2017, FamilyMart Philippines was acquired by local oil brand Phoenix Petroleum. Since then, the brand has been expanding its network and offering new products and innovative services in line with its thrust for convenience store food retailing. Before Davao, it recently opened stores in Baguio City and Cebu City.
Team Out of Town Blog Hub (outoftownblog.com) – Håfa adai! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Guam’s long history and ties with the Philippines date back to Spanish colonization in the 17th century.
Carl TC Gutierrez
With the Philippines only a 3.5-hour flight away, Guam is very much a marketable travel destination. The Guam Visitors Bureau thanks United Airlines for its daily direct flights and Philippine Airlines for its twice-weekly service to our island.
Air Asia is also already approved and itching to begin service. We’re hopeful Cebu Air will come back soon.
Currently, Guam is on the Philippine government’s yellow list, which means in-bound and return travelers must stay at a quarantine facility for a minimum of five or seven days after arrival, depending on their COVID-19 vaccination status. Our goal is for Guam to be green-listed in the Philippines so fully-vaccinated travelers can be exempted from quarantine, provided they present a negative PCR test.
Big challenge
A major challenge for travel from the Philippines to Guam is the suspension of routine visa services by the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines. With no definitive resumption date, only U.S. passport or green card holders and those with current U.S. tourist visas are allowed entry to Guam.
With the Philippines’ low COVID-19 vaccination rate., of about 22%, our Air V&V program is also a key selling point with the Philippine market.
Air V&V travelers Steve and Cora Desist said it best when they summed up their visit to Guam: “It was … truly a one-of-a-kind vacation with a purpose and great news during this time when travelers are looking for alternatives to get vaccinated with their choice of COVID-19 vaccine and have a chance to relax and unwind … for the first time in almost 20 months of quarantines and lockdowns. … We now have found peace, relief, and a safe place to take care of our health.”
Incentives
When locals think of the Philippines, medical tourism and shopping often come to mind. In this time of fatigue and uncertainty, we in turn hope to provide our kababayans similar wellness travel benefits in the form of relaxation, safety, and peace of mind.
To further hasten recovery efforts and reestablish and sustain air service to Guam, we also have focused on air service development in our key markets. GVB provides subsidies to airline partners while they proceed to do business during these tough times.
The Air Service Development and Philippines Marketing Team includes, from left, Brian Borja, Sharlene Guerrero and Karida Brennan
We aim to extend our CHamoru culture and håfa adai spirit to strengthen Guam’s unique selling points and brand equity.
Thank you to GVB board directors Paul Shimizu and Jeff Jones for their guidance in the Philippines Marketing Committee. I also acknowledge our team leading the charge with our Philippine market, marketing manager Sharlene Guerrero and marketing coordinator Karida Brennan.
Sharlene started at GVB in December 2019 but is not new to the marketing industry. She initially handled new markets and air service development, and later assisted with the COVID-19 and recovery task forces. Karida started in 2013, moving up within the ranks from the executive secretary, marketing associate, administrative assistant, and then to her current position.
Kudos to marketing manager Brian Borja, who is currently helping us with air service development. He has served GVB for the past seven years, having worked in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Russia, and Japan markets. He has over 10 years of project management, special promotions, and events experience.
I am proud of the work our marketing team has accomplished to take Guam to the next level.
Philippines date back to Spanish colonization in the 17th century
With the Philippines only a 3.5-hour flight away, Guam is very much a marketable travel destination. The Guam Visitors Bureau thanks United Airlines for its daily direct flights and Philippine Airlines for its twice-weekly service to our island.
Air Asia is also already approved and itching to begin service. We’re hopeful Cebu Air will come back soon.
Currently, Guam is on the Philippine government’s yellow list, which means inbound and return travelers must stay at a quarantine facility for a minimum of five or seven days after arrival, depending on their COVID-19 vaccination status. Our goal is for Guam to be green-listed in the Philippines so fully-vaccinated travelers can be exempted from quarantine, provided they present a negative PCR test.
Team Out of Town Blog Hub (www.outoftownblog.com) – Starting November 1, domestic tourists in the Philippines can have anti-Covid swab tests for free.
This was announced by the Department of Tourism (DOT) as it rolled out a new phase of its financial subsidy, through the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), to boost its domestic tourism recovery program.
Under the subsidy, a total of 350 applicants per day will be granted free RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) starting Monday.
Free swab tests for domestic tourists starting November 1 by Mufid Majnun via Unsplash
Many of the country’s destinations now accept fully vaccinated visitors without requiring the swab test. The free testing is only for domestic tourists whose destination still requires a negative result from an RT-PCR test or for staycation purposes.
The program is part of the Department’s extensive efforts to market and promote the country as a safe tourism destination and pave the way to a more robust tourism industry recovery.
“As travel restrictions continue to ease up, we aim to encourage more tourists to visit their destination of choice by providing a full subsidy on RT-PCR testing. This program helps ensure the safety of tourists, tourism workers, and local stakeholders in various destinations,” said Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat.
The recovery of the tourism industry had been hampered by the cost of the testing required by the local government units of the tourist destinations as part of the health and safety protocols against Covid-19. Many domestic tourists have had to put off travel plans because of the added cost of testing.
The partnership with PCMC was first rolled out in December 2020, covering 50 percent of the hospital’s swab testing cost. More than 15,000 tourists availed themselves of the subsidy program from January to June this year.
On June 23, the second phase of the program was implemented, covering July to December 2021. This is now amended to cover the P1,500 full cost of the RT-PCR test with a cap of 350 approved applicants per day. This will benefit more than 12,000 qualified domestic tourists until the end of the year.
Previously, the TPB partnered with the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital to subsidize 50 percent of the hospital’s swab testing for domestic tourists, accounting for 17,320 tourists from December 18, 2020, to July 7, 2021.
Domestic tourists wishing to avail themselves of the free testing at PCMC may visit https://www.tpb.gov.ph/rtpcrphtravel/ for application procedures and requirements. They may also visit https://app.philippines.travel/ to get the latest news and updates on travel requirements nationwide.
